Featured Image Credit: East2West
Topics: Russia, World News
Cameron Frew
Russia has been accused of fabricating Vladimir Putin's Easter church appearance.
We're nearly nine weeks into the Russian president's 'special military operation' in Ukraine, with the UK's Ministry of Defence saying troops have yet to make a 'significant breakthrough' in the 'battle for Donbas'.
Amid missile launches, flimsy peace talks and nuclear rhetoric, rumours have swirled around Putin concerning his health.
Over the past week, people have been observing Putin's body language across a number of clips. For example, in one clip he can be seen gripping the table and looking a bit bloated.
While attending the Easter mass service on Sunday, April 24, Putin could also been biting his lips and slightly swaying, bolstering theories that he's in poor health.
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Anders Aslund, a former adviser to Russia and Ukraine, said he looked 'depressed and seemingly in bad health’, as per Metro.
However, another theory regarding the Easter service has emerged: some believe the footage has been doctored, and Putin wasn't there whatsoever, either due to being ill or busy with the invasion of Ukraine.
In the footage, Putin can be seen attending in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral alongside the city's mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Both men were wearing similar attire to last year's service.
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According to Agentstvo, a Russian investigative journalism outlet, Putin's appearance has been stitched with the other footage to make it seem like he was there, when he wasn't.
Telegram channel Mozhem Obyasnit also claimed: "Putin 2022 at the service in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is almost indistinguishable from Putin 2021. Social media users, having studied the photos, doubted that the President attended a public event.
"Putin has the same hairstyle, almost the same facial expression, the same candle. Both are on the same background in the same aisle of the cathedral.
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"True, in 2021 Putin was sometimes shown against the backdrop of parishioners and priests, but this year, for some reason, they did not do this.”
Sharing the RT footage, Twitter user Igor Sushko also wrote: "Putin was too much of a coward to be present in the church during the actual event.
"Pre-recorded footage of him added in, and quite poorly. He is missing next to the painting of a crown on a red table on the wall."
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied reports that Putin is in ill health. It has yet to respond to claims he wasn't actually in attendance at the Easter service.
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